A land of liberty? - Julian Hoppit

The Glorious Revolution was a decisive moment in England's history; an invading Dutch army forced James II to flee to France, and his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, were crowned as joint sovereigns. The wider consequences were no less startling: bloody war in Ireland, Union with Scotland, Jacobite intrigue, deep involvement in two European wars, Britain's emergence as a great power, a financial revolution, greater religious toleration, a riven church and a startlinggrowth of parliamentary government.Such changes were only a part of the transformation of English society of the time. An enriching torrent of new ideas from the likes of Newton, Defoe, and Addison, spread through newspapers, periodicals, and coffee-houses, provided new views and values that some embraced and others loathed. England's horizions were also growing, especially in the Caribbean and American colonies, For many however, the benefits were uncertain: the slave trade flourished, inequality widened, and the poor and'disorderly' were increasingly subject to strictures and statutes. If it was an age of prospects it was also one of anxieties.